


Turning Point

by Yuletide (Zebra)



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 05:43:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2496605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Yuletide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some time after the final battle.<br/>Aurora comes to apologize after a quarrel with Maleficent, but Diaval has trouble waking her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turning Point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pesha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pesha/gifts).



Diaval landed on Maleficent’s nest and squawk once. 

The rhythmic movement of the heap of feathers didn’t change. He had to wake her, not least of all because Aurora was here and wanted to apologize to her Godmother for how she had behaved the day before.

Diaval had only caught the tail end of that affair, with Aurora running away clearly angry and as soon as her Beastie was out of sight Maleficent announced she was going to sleep. 

That had been yesterday afternoon.

Now it was afternoon again and Maleficent hadn’t woken once. Diaval was getting worried.

For a moment he considered tugging on one of her feathers, which would be stupid idea, she might move her wing away and hit him, probably breaking his bones while at it. He knew how strong her wings were, a day after gaining them back he had misjudged how much space she would take up with them – his own lay tight against his body after all – and had gotten whacked when Maleficent had turned to talk to him. He had found himself on the floor with his ears ringing. 

So, no tugging on any feathers. 

He had sung a whole serenade earlier in the day, till Balthazar came along and threatened to turn him into Bird on Stick if he didn’t stop the crowing ruckus. Maleficent hadn’t even twitched.

Eyeing her sleeping form Diaval saw her horns sticking out under one wing. 

He hopped over.

She had her head hidden under the wing and was snoring slightly. From the rim of her nest, the tips of her horns were easily reachable and Diaval figured, she wouldn’t move back to skewer him with them, but forward to hide further under her wing. 

Just as he leaned forward, he saw It.

There was a small white feather among all her bark colored ones. Now normally, here and there she had light colored feathers, rather sandy in color. He had teased her about still having her fledgling feathers on like a raven and spend an afternoon as a mouse for it.

But this was no light colored feather, this was a pure white one. It looked odd and had definitely not been there earlier. He would have noticed the gleam. He had to wake her.

He rubbed his beak against her ribbed horn. It sounded like one of the Wallerbogs croaking.

The slight snoring stopped and with a small whine Maleficent burrowed further under her wing. Diaval hopped along the rim to get into reach again. If it had elicited a reaction once, it would elicit a reaction twice. He just had to keep at it.

There were two more white feathers next to the first.

He didn’t bother with gentle rubbing, he tapped his beak hard against her horn.

Maleficent turned her head towards him slow with sleep, leaving Diaval enough time to step out of the way of her horns.

Slitted eyes stared at him balefully.

“What do you want? Let me sleep, or I'll turn you into a pooch.”

He fluffed his feathers at that and was just about to do something unwise when Aurora called up to them.

“Diaval? Godmother, are you well?”

Maleficent’s eyes closed and Diaval feared she’d just go to sleep again.

“Why didn’t you tell me the Beastie is here?” She asked him clearly not expecting an answer as she finally unfolded her wings and crawled out of her nest.

“I’m fine, Aurora,” she called down.

As Maleficent spread her wings to jump down, Diaval saw the white spots on her other wing.

It was time not to panic. He didn’t know about fairy wings like Maleficent’s. Maybe it was normal, maybe the long time in the iron-wrought glass trap had damaged them and now they were aging too fast and would fall off.

With a scared squawk he flew after her, as Maleficent took a wobbly jump down the tree for an even wobblier landing that had her falling to her knees.

Everything would be fine. They had survived the the curse, the iron castle and the king. They would get through this.

“Godmother!”

Aurora had a hand on Maleficent’s shoulder, the basket she brought with her nowhere in sight. Diaval landed in front of his mistress, cawing at her in concern. Her eyes unsteadly focused on him and she raised a hand towards him, waves of yellow magic gathering around her fingers.

For a moment he was caught between forms and feared that he wouldn’t come out on either side, but then his form settled.

“Mistress, what’s happening to you?”

Her eyes closed, her words were only a whisper.

“So tired.”

And then she fell against Diaval kneeling in front of her.

A shocked silence settled over them as Aurora and Diaval stared at the fairy.

When Maleficent started snoring, the two of them came out of their stupor.

“Mistress?”

Diaval shook her slightly first and then stronger when she didn’t react, but she wouldn’t wake.

“What’s wrong with her wings?”

Aurora sounded horrified and Diaval followed Aurora’s stare. Little yellow sparks were racing down Maleficent’s wings and left white feathers in their wake. More and more sparks appeared. The first of her primaries had turned white. 

There was a change coming about. Diaval wasn’t sure what it was, whether it would be good or bad, but he tingled all over and the hairs at his nape rose.

The last spark went down the tip of the last feather, turning it white as the first snow.

There was silence.

Time seemed to stop.

And then it exploded white.

Diaval gasped in surprise and started coughing as he inhaled small downy feathers.

Vaguely he could hear Aurora starting to cough, too. 

With one hand he kept Maleficent steady against his body, with the other he tried to get the downs out of his mouth while trying to avoid breathing in more of the ones raining down around them.

He had just gotten all of them out when he felt the tingling again. 

Aurora exclaimed in surprise and Diaval couldn’t hold in a gasp of astonishment either. 

Along Maleficent’s wing arms little spikes appeared, some staying short, some growing longer and longer, the yellow sparks of Maleficent’s magic jumping between them.

“Aurora, get behind me.”

If the same thing happened to the spikes that had happened to the feathers, behind him was the safest place, since he didn’t think he could get her to leave her Godmother.

Just like before the sparks stopped and there was a moment of silence, before Maleficent flapped her wings once and all the spikes snapped open and became tawny feathers.

Her wings settled against her shoulders as if nothing had happened and they weren’t surrounded by white feathers which had just exploded off those wings.

Maleficent raised her head.

“Why am I leaning against you, Diaval?”

Her voice was clear and held the obvious warning that the explanation would better be good.

Just as Diaval took a deep breath to hopefully get out of becoming another small furry animal, Aurora leaned over his shoulder.

“You fell asleep against Diaval and your wings turned white. They flew off all at once and then new feathers grew. It was so scary. Are you in pain? Are you well?”

Steadying herself against Diaval’s shoulder – although not moving out of his arm – her eyes turned to the feathers around them.

“The moulting? But that should be later in the year, not now.”

Moulting? Well, it certainly was like no moult he had ever heard off, but it was certainly fast and effective. His own took much longer, but then he didn’t lose and re-grow all his feathers at once during it.

“Your wings didn’t have a chance to moult for years, maybe they were just catching up,” he ventured.

But she wasn’t paying attention to him, she was sniffing the air.

“Is that cake? Moulting always leaves me so hungry.”

Her words were punctuated by a gurgle from her stomach.

“I brought cake, to apologize for yesterday.”

Aurora hurried to get the basket laying at the bottom of Maleficent’s tree.

“There’s nothing you have to apologize for, Beastie. Moulting just leaves me irritable.” 

Maleficent wiggled around so she was leaning with her back against Diaval.

“Are you comfortable, Mistress,” he was sure she could hear his somewhat piqued tone.

“Why, Diaval, yes, I am,” her tone no less biting, but one of her wing claws was gently stroking his hair.

“I hope you like the cake.”

Even if she didn’t like the cake, Diaval was sure Maleficent wouldn’t tell Aurora, and the way she snatched the cake it might not even matter how the cake tasted as long as it was edible in some way.

“Mistress? Can you tell us more about you moulting? So we are better prepared the next time.”

A piece of cake disappeared in short order, she grunted her assent.

Well, it looked like explanations had to wait, Diaval just hoped she left him a piece, too.


End file.
